


Tomorrow, We'll Fly

by heartstrickledown



Category: Watchmen - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-08
Updated: 2010-07-08
Packaged: 2017-10-10 11:15:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/99144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartstrickledown/pseuds/heartstrickledown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan's father sparks his love of birds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tomorrow, We'll Fly

  
  
  
  


  
  
  
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His dad's birds always know how to get home, which Dan thinks is the most amazing thing. He can't even do that, or at least he couldn't when he got lost at the fair a few years ago; now his dad makes sure he always knows where Dan is going. "If your mother knew," he says, and the idea is just concrete enough to keep Dan in line. Dan has to think about the way home, memorizing street names and how many times to turn left. Except to go to the park. He knows _that_ by heart, but if his dad took him to, say, the river and left him there, he'd just get lost, which isn't the case for the pigeons at all.

Their pigeon coop is tall and smells sharp and bright, like the pigeons do when Dan kisses their heads. They're always gentle, though a couple times they nip his fingers when he holds too tight or tries to pet their feathers the wrong way. None of them have names, though secretly, they do. His dad kneels and holds them out, brushing their beaks with his thumbs: "See, it's important that their eyes are clear - that means they're not sick. Look." When Dan asks him questions, he smiles at him, proud.

*

They're at the park on a Saturday and Dan's father puts a pigeon (Gordon) into his hands. "Here, you try it." The others aren't even specks in the sky anymore, and Dan wonders if they're really that small or if their house is really that far away. "Just let him go - go on, toss him."

Dan's old enough to know not to talk to animals, so he leans down and whispers "Good luck -" that way his father won't hear him. He's almost afraid Gordon won't go into flight, that he'll recognize Dan's desire to keep him still and will simply fall. He doesn't. When Dan tosses him up, he opens his wings, flaps hard, and is gone, wings still as he soars.

"Why isn't he flapping his wings?" Dan's not sure how he never noticed it before. He's embarrassed until his father smiles at him, one that Dan can feel down inside his stomach, lighting him up.

"Very observant, Daniel. That's because they don't flap their wings - birds _glide_ on air currents." He pats Dan's shoulder, smiling now at the sky. "Not many people know that, or ever notice for that matter."

Dan recognizes his father's compliments (rare as they are) and tries not to grin too noticeably.

*

When he asks for a pair of binoculars for his birthday, he can tell he's going to get them.

*

When he's old enough, he rides his bike to the park, and does as often as he can, eventually without even asking for permission. He shows his father his notes and doesn't even have to ask for the big bird book his father gives him not long after. He earns straight A's and learns how to recognize birds by the patterns of their feathers, but it is the latter that elicits the brightest sincerity.

*

The pigeons die, and his father dies.

But Nite Owl is born.  


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End file.
